Democracy Has Prevailed.

May 13, 2007

See the Infamous Bodack Letter Here!

As I blogged here, the Len Bodack Campaign mailed out a letter in Pittsburgh City Council District 7 which branded his opponent, Patrick Dowd, a "LIAR." Furthermore, Councilman Bodack uses a "near exact replication of the Pittsburgh City seal" to do that dirty work. The letter also implies that the Pittsburgh Public School Teachers failed to endorse Dowd because they believe him to be a liar.

Here are .JPG files of the letter and envelope:





Here's a comparison of the official Seal of the City of Pittsburgh (left) and the seal that Bodack uses on the envelope and twice on the letter (right):

Official Seal Bodack Letter Seal


Despite the "seal" both the letter and envelope have the following printed on them "NOT PRINTED AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE." I guess that's how you're supposed to figure out that the mailing is not officially coming from the City or Bodack's Council office -- that is if you somehow were not eagle-eyed enough to notice the differences in the seal being used. And, we all have the official seal memorized, right?

As I stated yesterday, Councilman Jeff Koch also mailed out a flyer (seemingly at the same time as Bodack's letter) which also brands his opponent, Bruce Kraus, as a "liar." I will try to have pictures of that flyer up today. I will also be posting some pictures of some dirty tricks reportedly done against the Kraus camp.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ouch. The whole logo thing is so slimey.

Anonymous said...

I wonder who owns the permit number that was used to mail this letter?

I'm sure the Bodiacs will soon be saying we're making a mountain out of a molehill, can't they come up with something more creative?

How about if they said the seal is actually the Bodack family crest?

It's hard to imagine that it'd be kosher for the city seal to be used on campaign literature. Maybe the Ethics Board will look into this, or George Specter, the, (still), 'acting' city solicitor will check the legality of it.

The voice in my head, sounding alot like Burgher, is saying "Yeah, good luck with that..."

Anonymous said...

I got this in the mail yesterday and figured something was fishy.

Unfortunately Bodack can send unregulated hate mail...what a loser. Watch for me volunteering at the polls for Dowd on Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

Snoozer fest

Anonymous said...

YOU'RE ALL LIARS! I AM SICK OF ALL OF YOU LYING LIARS WHO LIE AND MAKE UP LIES ABOUT ME.

Maria said...

LENNY!

Sorry, any Patti Smith Group fans out there will get the reference.

Mark Rauterkus said...

What is the difference between the seals? I see none?

Call a seal a seal. He is the walrus -- coo-coo-ca-shoe. "

EdHeath said...

On a slightly different note, one of the Dowd campaign’s press releases hinted at questions they had regarding Councilman Bodack’s finances, and how they had more information. I was curious and so I went down to the campaign headquarters this afternoon. I think they did some copying at the City Controller’s office themselves, regardless they had some copies of disbursement requests, and long story short, checks to Robert Kramm only had the check request with a phrase: (something like) District office coverage, senior centers, constituent assistance. I remember it was three items, anyway. No timesheets or invoices. Other checks made from the Councilman’s expense account, clearly expense reimbursements (to a neighborhood group), had invoices from companies like Xerox or Staples (I think), clearly recognizable and trackable. Maybe the payments to Robert Kramm stopped in ‘04 because they didn’t have enough backup, but anyway no one in industry would cut checks like that, without backup, at least not for long. I’m not saying there was something going on, just that what I saw would make me look for more information.

Anonymous said...

OK, so Bodack has been around a while and his dad was on council. Other than that, what's the problem? If it ain't broke, don't fix it!! Bodack has done a lot for my mom and those on my street and no, I'm not a committee member. Who do I want representing my mom....a guy who helped her and cares, or a guy with pretty hair and not much else? Nuf said!

Mark Rauterkus said...

You've answered your own question with the statement, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

Pittsburgh has been and continues to be 'broke.' The city is broken. The budget is frail -- to say the least. Our public life and government performance is worthy of being flushed.

If Pittsburgh was in a time of flourishing leadership among elected officials -- then Len B would be a perfect do-nothing kinda guy. But, in these times, creative men and women with principles and problem solving and communication skills are needed -- urgently.